Hopper door latching mechanism



March 10, 1959 e. B. DOREY HOPPER DOOR LATCHING MECHANISM 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 15, 1955 mm aw INVENTOR. 660C965 D0r% March 10, 1959 G. B. DOREY HOPPER DOOR LATCHING MECHANISM 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 15, 1955 INVENTOR. 560/ 9550/" United States HOPPER DOOR LATCHING MECHANISM Application November 15, 1955, Serial No. 546,904 Claims. (Cl. 105-253) This invention relates to an improved hopper door latching mechanism for railway hopper car doors and the like and is of special importance in connection with pendantly mounted doors of the type adapted to assume an inclined closed position.

The objects of the invention, among others, are: To provide pivoted latching elements carried by the hopper and door respectively and movable into interlocking relation; to provide interengaging pivoted latching elements carried by the hopper and door respectively which are swingab'le about axes extending at an angle to each other; to provide a pivoted shouldered keeper carried by a hopper for cooperation with a movable latch element carried by the door and wherein the keeper is provided with a wedge shaped nose arranged to impinge between the swinging edge of the door and the latch element carried by the door to displace said element from a biased latching position; and to provide a pivoted shouldered latching element carried by the hopper movable to final latching position by movement of a latching element carried by the door.

For comprehension of the invention reference may be had to the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a transverse vertical sectional view showing approximately one half of the lower portion of a railway car hopper with a door shown in open position and the improved latching mechanism applied thereto;

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the structure shown in Figure l, as viewed from left to right, and showing by conventional dot and dash lines the position of the door at the initiation of the latch displacing movement;

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view through the hopper with the door in closed and latched position, said section being taken at a location corresponding to a line 3-3 of Figure l; and

Figure 4 is a fractional sectional view showing the lower portion of the hopper with the door in partially closed position.

In said drawings the structure of a hopper car is indicated by a center sill member and side wall 11 and interposed therebetween is a hopper proper defined by upper and lower or bottom sloping floors 12 and 13 respectively having inner and outer side walls 14 and 15. The hopper is reinforced across the opening by a frame 16 of conventional type having hinge butts 17 which receive pintles 18 whereby a discharge door 19 is pivotally mounted adjacent the upper margin of the opening.

The door 19 is preferably of pan shape including a body portion 20 and generally upwardly extending flanges 21, 22, 23 and 24 which enclose the frame 16 when the door is in closed position. The door 19 is arranged to be swung to an inclined closed position, Figure 3, to meet with the edge of the frame 16 forming a continuation of the lower sloping floor 13 and is adapted to be retained in closed position by means of the door latching mechanism constituting the present invention.

The latching mechanism includes interlocking movable Ice members carried by the bottom floor 13 and door 19 respectively. The part of the mechanism carried by the floor 13 includes a bracket 25 secured in position by rivets 26 and 27 and formed with spaced vertical walls 28-28 and an upper rearwardly extending abutment wall 29. Extending between the walls 28-28 is a latching element or keeper 30 which is pivotally supported by a pivot pin 31 extending through said walls 28-48. The keeper 30 includes a body portion 32 which extends beyond the floor 13 and below the swinging edge of the door 19 when the latter is in closed position. Adjacent its outer end the keeper 30 is provided with a wedge shaped nose or shoulder 33 having latching faces 33a and 33b and beyond it there is a wedge shaped approach including upper and lower V arranged faces as indicated at 34 and 35 respectively. The keeper 30 is arranged for limited vertical swinging movement for a purpose which will be described hereinafter and its downward movement is limited by means of a tail piece 30a which engages the abutment wall 29.

The part of the mechanism carried by the door 19 includes a swinging latching element or latch bar 36 which is preferably of generally bell crank formation with one arm 37 extending downwardly from a pivot pin 38 and the other arm 39 extending in the opposite direction.

The latch bar 36 is pivotally mounted by a pin 38 preferably on a beam member 40 which in turn is rigidly secured to the body portion 20 of the door 19. The beam member 40 includes integrally spaced guides 41 and 42, Figure 2, between which the arm 39 is guided. A latching cam 43 also is received between the guides 41 and 42- and pivotally mounted thereon at 44. operates to maintain the latch bar 36 in operative latching position. The outer end of the arm 39 is provided with a handle portion 45 and in alignment therewith are fol-- crums 4 6 and 47 extending from the guide 42 and forming rests for a prying bar (not shown) for exerting multiplied leverage on the handle portion 45 in either a latching or unlatching direction.

The cam 43 The lower end of the arm 37 extends slightly below the swinging edge of the door 19 and is there provided with a stepped latching face as indicated at and 49 with the steps connected by an inclined face 50. The said faces are arranged to engage with the latching faces 33a and 33b of the shoulder 33 of the keeper 30 in order to maintain the door 19 either in a closed or partially closed position, the face 48 being arranged to engage the face 33b and maintain the door in partially closed position, as shown in Figure 4, and face 49 being arranged to engage the face 331) in fully closed position, as shown in Figure 3, with the inclined face 50 operating to move the door 19 from one position to the other by movement of the latch bar 36 and to engage the face 33a.

The type of door for which the improved latch mechanism is particularly desirable is one which is kicked or pushed to closed position and the latching mechanism depended upon for automatically retaining the door in its nearly closed position.

In order to effect automatic displacement of the latch bar on the door 19 as it is moved to closed position, there is provided a beveled projection 51 at the rear of the arm 37 which is adapted to engage with the under face 35 of the shoulder 33 of the keeper 30. The wedge end of the keeper 30 then operates as a wedge between the swinging edge of the door 19 and the beveled projection 51 of the keeper 30. Upward movement of the keeper 30 is arrested by cooperating abutments 52 and 53 on the keeper 30 and bracket 25 respectively.

The operation of the mechanism is as follows: Assuming the parts in position as seen in Figures 1 and 2 of the drawings, the operator moves the door 19 to closed position. It swings freely until such time as it reaches the position indicated by conventional dot and dash lines in Figure 2 whereupon, on continued movement in the indicated direction, the wedge shaped nose 33 of the keeper 30 impinges between the swinging edge of the door 19 and the beveled projection 51 of the arm 37, as shown in Figure 2, thereby forcing the latter downwardly. Further closing movement of the door 19 causes the step face 48 to engage the face 33b of the shoulder 33 of the keeper 30 and retain the door 19 in partially closed position, Figure 4. The operator then bears down on the handle portion 45 of the arm 39 which causes the arm 37 to move upwardly and simultaneously swing the keeper 3t] upwardly. At the same time the stepped face 49 moves into engagement with the shoulder 33b of the keeper and thus retains the door 19 in closed position. The keeper 30 is positively maintained in its raised position by engagement of the face 33a of the shoulder 33 with the inclined face 50 of the arm 37 of the latch bar 36. The latching cam 43 then is swung downwardly to latched position against the arm 39.

What is claimed as new is:

1. In a railway car having a hopper with a discharge opening, a sloping floor terminating at the bottom of said discharge opening, and a door hinged to said hopper adjacent an upper side of said opening and swingable under the effect of gravity to an open position, in combination, a keeper rotatably mounted at one end on the under side of said sloping floor adjacent the bottom of said discharge opening about an axis parallel to the hinge axis of said door, said keeper extending beyond said bottom of said discharge opening and having a latching shoulder at the other end extending parallel to said hinge axis, and a latch bar pivoted to and adjacent the edge of said door furthest removed from said hinge axis, to swing in a plane substantially parallel to said door, said latch bar having a part movable beyond said edge of said door and carrying a latching shoulder engaging said latching shoulder on said keeper to hold said door closed.

2. In a railway car having a hopper with a discharge opening, a sloping floor terminating at the bottom of said discharge opening, and a door hinged to said hopper adjacent an upper side of said opening and swingable under the effect of gravity to an open position, in combination, means retaining said door in closed position including interlocking latching elements pivotally mounted on said door and floor respectively, the latching element on said door being a latch bar pivoted to and adjacent the edge of said door furthest removed from the hinge axis of said door to swing in a plane parallel to said door, said latch bar having one end swingable beyond said edge of said door and a latching shoulder on said one end, the latching element on said fioor being a keeper rotatably mounted at one end on the under side of said sloping floor adjacent the bottom of said discharge opening about an axis parallel to said hinge axis, said keeper extending 'beyond said bottom of said discharge opening and having a latching shoulder at the other end extending parallel to said hinge axis and engaging said latching shoulder on said latching lever to hold said door closed.

3. In a railway car having a hopper with a discharge opening, a sloping floor terminating at the bottom of said discharge opening, and a door hinged to said hopper adjacent an upper side of said opening and swingable under the effect of gravity to an open position, in combination, a keeper rotatably mounted at one end on the under side of said sloping fioor adjacent the bottom of said discharge opening about an axis parallel to the hinge axis of said door, said keeper extending beyond said bottom of said discharge opening and having a latching shoulder at the other end extending parallel said hinge axis, said latching shoulder having a latching surface on the side facing the axis of rotation of said keeper and an upwardly inclined latch bar displacing surface on the other side, and a latch bar pivoted to and adjacent the edge of said door furthest removed from said hinge axis to swing in a plane substantially parallel to said door, said latch bar having one end swingable beyond said edge of said door and having a latching shoulder on said one and provided one one side with a latching surface engaging said latching surface on said latching shoulder on said keeper to hold said door closed, the other side of said latching shoulder on said latch bar having an upwardly inclined keeper displacing surface to engage said latch bar displacing surface on said shoulder on said keeper as said door swings toward closed position to rotate said keeper and latch bar simultaneously about their respective axes.

4. The invention, as set forth in claim 3, wherein stop means on the keeper and hopper limit the downward swinging movement of the keeper to position the upper part of the latch bar displacing surface in the path of the lower part of the keeper displacing surface, and biasing means reacts against the latch bar in opposition to the force exerted thereon by engagement of said displacing surfaces to urge said latch bar toward latching position.

5. The invention, as set forth in claim 3, wherein the latching shoulder on the keeper extends laterally of the longitudinal axis of the keeper and has a free end and the latching shoulder on the latch bar in latched position extends normal to said longitudinal axis of said keeper and beyond said free end of said latching shoulder on said keeper.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,630,770 Zimmer Mar. 10, 1953- 2,638,062 Zimmer May 12, 1953 2,641,199 Dorey June 9, 1953 2,651,267 Dorey Sept. 8, 1953 2,684,644 Dorey July 27, 1954 

